well, looks like we covered all of our bases in the first half. peyton pick six facing san diego, check. two fumbles lost on special teams, check. obligatory two touchdowns given up to gates, check. a receiver doing something inconceivable after the catch, check.

can't wait to see the second half.

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Now the only ones I take are the ones that I wear
Ain't takin no shorts no more

He's great at making the first guy miss and he read his blocks well. Hopefully he can keep it up.

Solid game all around tonight. The early fumble was a ugly moment... and unfortunately typical for the team this year. However it was smooth sailing after that.

The offense is really starting to click. Manning is making excellent use of the weapons he has available. The one back formation with either a TE or WR in the slot is a tough one for other teams... so much Manning can do from that one. We've got lots of weapons too - hell, with Virgil Green making some plays tonight that gives us six decent receivers (3 TE's, 3 WR's). Not bad. The McGahee + Hillman combo looks to be a good one as well.

Credit the defense for keeping the Saints under control. The young guys are playing well and having Brooking there as the steady, veteran hand seems to be working out. I'm not buying in to all the hype/hyperbole that the announcers were getting into tonight, but as long as this side of the ball plays moderately well we'll have a great chance to win some more games.

i still don't like: our safeties, our linebackers, and the complete lack of push from our DTs. it would be awesome if wolfe were an nfl caliber DT, but he just isn't. he's not a bad player at DE, but i don't see him ever being a great DT without adding a ton of bulk.

Wolfe is a power DE who can slide to DT on passing downs. We've seen more stunts recently and I suspect that's to advantage of his energy (and play down his lack of bulk). I think he'll end up being very productive for us.

The LB situation is pretty fluid - I think we'll eventually settle on a smaller, faster corps like Fox had in Carolina. DJ's foolishness and Mays' injury have certainly helped speed up that process. There are definitely going to be growing pains (see Trevathan getting beaten like a rented mule by Sproles) but there have also been some nice flashes of potential.

It was interesting to see we promoted a safety after Mays went down. We've seen a fair amount of big nickle the last few games with the extra S on the TE. I suspect that trend will continue.

regarding the draft, i would literally kill someone to move up and take te'o.

That may very well happen. MLB is our biggest need by far. We've also got a lot of young players on the team already, so there's not the pressure that comes with trying to overhaul an aging roster.

If Walton and Carter can come back at full strength, we'll have a fair amount of flexibility on draft day. MLB and DT seem like they will be locks... maybe a power RB as well. After that, we're looking at what? Depth for the secondary, receiver and OL? Sounds like a good position to be in to consider a potential trade-up.

We had the opportunity to really take control of the AFC West and we capitalized. That's encouraging.

The disappointing thing was the lack of execution by the offense. We should've scored gobs of points while the Chargers were getting snuffed by the D - instead it was a mixed bag of overthrows, drops and miscues. McGahee getting injured certainly didn't help the consistency on offense... the lack of second power back really hurt. That's something the team definitely needs to address in the offseason.

Hillman looks a lot better when he is coming in to spell McGahee. He looks awful when he is there for an obvious run situation.

Am I the only one who is EXTREMELY nervous every time the ball is kicked to Holliday? Obviously once the ball is in his hands and he has started running he looks great, but he looks so suspect judging and catching the ball. I am worried he will cost us an important game at the end of the season.

he doesn't even look that good then, unless the hole is 12 feet wide. i think his vision is suspect, and he apparently can't make the first guy miss. i know he's a rookie, but nothing he's done has been impressive so far.

Right now, he's just a speed guy. He tries to bounce everything to the outside... which is usually a sign that he's not really reading his blocks. He's young and a rookie - he'll put on some weight over the next few years and the game will slow down for him. Then we'll see.

Atm, though, the Ball/Hillman combination pushes us too much toward the passing game. Our bread-n-butter run plays are inside the tackles - whether zone blocking, having a pulling OG lead or multiple double teams on the DL... that's where McGahee really earned his yards. Ball is okay in the zone scheme but still doesn't pick his way through the interior trash enough to be a reliable option.

We need another power back with vision. I honestly can't understand why that is so difficult to evaluate - those things should be apparent from the game tape. The trick is, you've got to avoid being dazzled by the plays where a back takes a quick pitch and races for an 80-yard TD... or the OL is so dominant that the holes are big enough for a truck to drive through.

As for Ball vs Hillman, obviously Ball gives you more options at this point even if he lacks any real impact ability. Neither is really a great option, though. I'm thinking we'll see your favorite sauced HB activated this week...

Speaking of god awful - your sig is a revolting eyesore. Tell me you aren't going to be sporting that for long...

Despite all the tough talk about playing a division opponent, the Arrowhead challenge, and other blahblah - the Broncos came out flat and lacked focus. It's pretty clear they were looking past this one. Stupid? Yes. Entirely predictable? Yes. I'm sure Fox is frustrated - getting these guys motivated to bring their A game every week is apparently a very tough task.